Original "Nach Stalingrad" sign from the 14th Panzer Division

[sweersz]

I purchased this "Nach Stalingrad" (To Stalingrad) pointer sign of the Wehrmacht's 14th Panzer Division from a guy who lives in Volvograd (formerly Stalingrad) earlier this year and I had suspected he dug it up. After I bought it and on a whim, I asked him if he could provide any info on where and how he got it (I like cataloging provenance), and to my surprise he sends me these photos!!!




Over 3 and a half months later, I finally get it in the mail! It is double-sided and almost perfectly flat as the metal is super thick and heavy, weighing nearly 10 pounds. Here it is chilling on a love seat with a 1942 Izhevsk Mosin Nagant (I know, I know, I need a K98 now!).





Before running into this, I've never seen an authentic "Nach Stalingrad" sign other than in old WW2-era photos/film. It's pretty eerie considering the 14th Panzer Division was completed destroyed at Stalingrad (like most others) and I'm sure a lot of the soldiers who drove or marched past this Stalingrad sign didn't make it out of there alive.



The framed photo is a 14th Panzer Division unit entering Stalingrad. I made the border out of a worn vintage belt I found in the dumpster that had rivets and iron crosses on it -- I thought "perfect!!!" Note the symbol to the left of the tank's number.



Here are some closeups of what being underground for 75+ years does...




Now I need to set up a nice wall display! I just thought you guys would like to see this. Over and out!

[Ian Hayes]

That is a really nice piece of history. Imagine who rode or walked by that to their death.

[Vocht]

This is one of the most awesome pieces I ever saw. You sir are lucky man. I would love to be the owner of that sign.
Please tell us how you contacted this man in Volgograd and how you managed to get this item.

[Carteremmm]

Very unique, that’s a great find!

[sweersz]

Thank you all, I consider myself very lucky to have run into it!

Believe it or not, I randomly found this on eBay after a long time of hunting for cool stuff that could be poorly optimized for search. In fact, nowhere in the title of the listing were the words "Stalingrad" or even "sign". What I've discovered is you can find a lot of good deals that simply aren't optimized for search well so hardly anyone sees it, but that's where the challenge comes in because it's not easy and takes a ton of time looking through everything. In the end, however, it could pay off. Recently I found a dug-up SS license plate on eBay but nowhere in the title did it say "SS" or even "plate", and the main listing picture didn't even show the "SS" part of the license plate -- it just looked like some dirty old license plate at first glance.

[Paul D]

Sorry but this is a fake , there are many honest diggers in Stalingrad but sadly there are one or two who are churning out items such as this and selling them on Fleabay etc .

They just pose them next to a recently dug hole and take a photo , look at the condition of it and the lack of wear to the lettering etc , there is no way this has been underground for over 70 years .

[Paul D]

Who was the seller , can you post a link please ?

[CSW]

I definitely agree with Paul. I have seen and personally found a lot of items with original text on them and this one, unfortunately, is very much a fake and a very typical one at that. Overly sexy division emblems are most of the time a huge red flag - not to even mention the wrong look of the sign's surface

[Vocht]

This makes me sad.

[Danmark]

This makes me sad.

Makes us ALL sad friend - it is unfortunately just the way things are........